About to do my first "music to video" job - any tips.....

I am about to start on my first ever project adding music to a video clip (about 6 minutes). I have never even looked at this section of Sonar before, so if anyone has some tips, and/or links to tutorials? That would be appreciated.
 
 

Thanks Robert - yeah no video editing, just got to add the music.

My advice....get to know who you send the music to, the mixer, the editor, whoever.  They are usually there when the client listens to your music.  If they like you they always will say something positive about you and your music.  So take them to lunch. They might give you a lot of invaluable, inside info.  Find out what they want tech-wise from you.  Try to make the next person's job easier.  Doing so will always guarantee your success.  

cool thanks guys. No specs Robert other than to add a soundtrack.

Sanderxpander
Also, unless it works right away, be prepared for a lot of hassle.

Yes be prepared for revisions, both with the picture and music.  Don't get bent out of shape with any requests to change things.  Many years ago I learned to give 3 versions and one with a "red herring"..something slightly out.  Let the client point it out and then you say "good catch, you have good ears! I can fix it tho. Don't know how that got past me."
 
99 times out of 100 they will go back to the 1st thing you played for them.  Mark my words.
 

As long as you can import the video and it plays back OK on either of Sonars video engines you'll be fine. (I have to frequently chop and change between the two of them if one project is H264 or MOV etc etc) - Theres an easy guide to doing that on the release notes for X3e.
 
Get NOTES from your Director, being in touch with their vision is key.
 
Has the picture got any dialogue? What genre is this for?
 
 

Sanderxpander
You won't be able to put a sharp blip just before the first frame of vision unless they gave you some black to start with, because Sonar doesn't allow you to change the video start time, usually, let alone add any black. That's one of the bits of "hassle" I meant.

That is incorrect.  Under the Video Properties you can tell Sonar when to start the video.  (Obviously some have never read the manual. It is on p 164/165 of the X3 manual)
 
All DAW's allow you to specify the time the video starts.  This can be a bit tricky because you might get a video that either has a countdown or black before the first frame of real vision.  You may have to juggle this start time a bit.  What you are wanting is right on bar 3  (beat 1)  you want to see the actual first frame of the real video vision.  If there is more than 4 seconds of vision before the real video starts then you may have to leave 4 bars at the start of your session at 120 BPM then make bar 5 beat 1 the point the real video kicks in.  (And your tempo kicks in too)  Blip marker then goes onto bar 4 beat 1. (still 2 seconds before the start of the real vision.)  This gives you 8 seconds to play with before the actual video starts in terms of fiddling with the start time.  The blip marker is only really needed if your music fades in slowly.  If it comes in tight then you could go without it as well.
 
The reason why it is good to have those bars at 120 BPM before the video kicks in  (and your final tempo)  is that it is easier to think in terms of frames vs beats. eg each beat  (quarter note)  is 500 mS or approx 16 frames (at close to 30 fps. It is nice even 25 fps here much better btw in Australia.) so an eighth note is approx 8 frames and a 16th is close to 4 frames etc.  It helps you figure the start time a little easier that is all.  And also that blip bar is always exactly 2 seconds befoe the start bar.
 
I usually leave 2 bars at 120 BPM right at the start of the arrangement.  (reason is that 1 bar is exactly 2 seconds)  Then on the third bar you tell the DAW what tempo you are going to work at.  (BTW you need to figure out the tempo of your piece BEFORE anything else!  To do this sit down with the video and a metronome and forget the DAW for a moment and get a handle on how fast the music is going to be.)
 
I put the Blip marker at the start of bar 2 and start the music and your cue on bar 3.  You set the start time so the video kicks off right at the start of bar 3.
 
Don't put anything at the start of bar 1 either. It is not wise. (ever)
 
When you render out the whole (music) cue do that from bar 1 as well, not bar 2 as you might miss the very start of the blip sound)
 
Do not render out the video with the audio. That is not what a DAW is actually for.  Give the audio back to the video guys and let them drop it into the vision.  They have way better software for doing this and the video will more than likely be at a much higher res as well.  What you get to work with is often a low res version of the real video.  Be there as well when they are lining up music to vision.  Sometimes they get it wrong and you have to alert them to it.  You may be going for hit points within the vision in the music as well.  You may have to juggle tempos too to put hit points in better places musically eg on a beat/bar etc.. Hit points will often fall in bad places musically.  (well from experience only 50% of the time. It is also amazing how well hit points fall on beats etc)
 
A Hit Point is a point visually that you really may want to land on musically as well.  eg a major mood change musically etc..You don't want to go mad with them either.  It can look a bit tacky if you are hitting vision edits all over the place. Narrow it down to a small number of them if you are going to go for them etc.. You may not have to as well and your music might just carry the whole vid right through.  Even when you do this you will find plenty of nice spots where the music just lines up naturally with some nice visual things too. (50% of the time usually!)
 

That seems a bit weird. And you mean video format I guess not engine.  Then I would make sure you get the working file in the best format for Sonar.  The video guys can usually generate a variety of formats for composers to work with. (wasn't AVI the best one at the time, cannot remember)
 
I never had issues in 8.5 and I must have been using the right format. I work with Studiio One now and it certainly works in that fine. (Quicktime)
 
Sander has brought up a good point. From memory Sonar did not play well with certain vidieo formats. Make sure you get your working video in the best format for Sonar. If they give it to you as a Quicktime movie and you experience issues try AVI instead. Even if you don't want to bother them there are free MOV to AVI converters on line.

Correct: https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013354/SONAR-X3d-Switching-between-Media-Foundation-and-DirectShow-Video-Engines
 
I believe someone from CW mentioned that Media Foundation has a limitation with moving video, or something along those lines.